Anticurl strips for collars and similar articles



y 1959 B. LlEBOWlTZ 2,884,640

ANTICURL STRIPS FOR COLLARS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed Oct. 7,1955 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

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ANTICURL STRIPS FOR COLLARS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed Oct. 7, 1955 2 Sheets-$11991. 2

415?; mmvrox.

United States Pate ANTICURL STRIPS FOR COLLARSAND SIMILAR ARTICLES Benjamin Liebowitz, Lewisboro, N.Y;, assignor to Endsdown Company, Inc., New York,,N.Y.'

Application October 7, 1955, Serial No. 539,220:

3 Claims. (Cl. 2-132).

The present inventionrelates to devices for preventing oropposing the curling of men s'collars and similar articles of apparel, and. inparticular the present invention relates to devices of this type which are permanently installed in the garmentand therefore are subject to the stresses and chemical actions of laundering operations.

Since a very large proportion (perhaps the majority) of shirts are laundered in commercial laundries, the effects of commercial laundering operations'will be described, although it is to be understood that similar effects arise in connection with home-laundering washing machines. In particular the effects of commerciallaundering on permanentlyinstalled anticurl. devices will be described.

There are several different aspects of'launderingopera tions which create difficulties. for permanently. installed. anticurldevices; For. exampl'e', nylon.has.been used. for anticurl devices;of.the above type, butonly inthe' edge position or off-edge position of fused collars. Attempts to usenylon stays in the diagonal position in' soft col lars have resulted in failure due to distortion and break-- agev of such stays (suchstays' are described in.U.S. Patent No. 2,701,880). Analysis .of the reasons. for such. failure will emphasize the difficulties involved.

In the first place, in. laundering operations, nylon softens to such anextent. that it becomes rubbery and. offers very little resistance to the stresses imposed in the washwheel and the greater stresses imposed: in. centrifuging. Hence, particularly whenthe'garmentiscentrifuged, the stay may. become sharply; bent upon itself and on subsequent ironing, even thoughthegarment' at: the part thereof where the stay is.-1ocated.is straightened out,,a serious Weakness develops in the stay with the re-- sultthat after. repeated-launderingthe stays are liableto breakage. This has been demonstrated with. actual washing tests. Suchbreakage is due --in part at least to thehighwater absorption of-nylon and in part to itslack' of. resilience, that is, its tendency to take a: permanent: set and its-lack of resistance to fatigue under these conditions. Also, as a resultiofwater absorption, nylon tends to deform by becoming curved when it is pressed in. commercial laundry presses, thereby assuming an armate shape where a substantially straight shape iswanted.

Finally, the difliculties withnylon arise in part because of the'factthat itsmodulus. of elasticity doesnot: exceed 300,000 lbs. at the very best, and. therefore in. order to be effective in. the collar of an ordinary shirt the thickness of .thenylon must be in the region of 0.020- inch or more when the width of the nylon strip is A; inch. more or less.

Thus, the difficultieswhich arise when nylon is,usedl as a permanently installed anticurl device'in a collar are due first to its. water absorption, second'to its tendency to'take a= permanent set, third toits insuflicient modulusof elasticity, and. fourth: to the thickness whichitrnust: have to be effective. All of-:these factors combinedhave resulted inathefact that.nyloncannot be used satisfactorilyas a stay ina garment part which. issubject to ordinary' ice 2 laundering operations, exceptunder very restricted conditions, where, for example, the nylon stay is located in the edge of a fused collar where it is protected by the strength and stiffness of the fused edge.

Nylon has been analyzed because it alonev among the materials available has been good enough to be used even in a small way for the above purposes. Almost all other plastics are less desirable than nylon inthese respects, and hence cannot be used as a material for a permanently installed anticurl device in a collar or the like. Metals cannot be used because of their tendency to cut through the fabric and thereby destroy the collar.

In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to successfully provide a permanently installed anticurl device by using a plastic which is sufficiently thin and which has a sufficiently lowwater absorption to prevent distortion of the anticurl device upon ironing. It has been found that a plastic which has a thickness of 0.010 inch and a width of approximately 6 inch will serve adequately as an anticurl device, provided that this plas tic has a tensile strength of atleast 17,000 lbs. per square inch, a tensile modulus of at least 450,000 lbs. per square inch, a moisture absorption not appreciably greater than 0.3%, and a melting point of at least 480 F. in order to enable the plastic to withstand all ordinary laundering operations. These strength and modulus measurements are at ordinary temperatures and atmospheric conditions Finally, the plastic must have a high resilience, which is to say that it must take a relatively small permanent set when subject to the stresses which ordinarily occur in packaging and wearing of the collar.

A plastic material which has been found to meet the above requirements is a polyester sheet material sold under the trade name Mylar by Du Pont de Nemours, he. Mylar has a melting point of 250-255 C,, a specific'gravity of l.381,.39 gms ./cc., a refractive index of 1.655n a tensile strength of 17,000-25,000 p.s.i., a tensile. modulus of 450,000600,000 p.s.i., a flex life, 0 F. of 20,000 (1 mil) cycles, a bending recovery (immediate) of 43% .(1 mil) (recovery from 180 bend), humidity coelficient .of linear expansion of 1 1 10- R.H., moisture absorption of 0.3% and shrinkage .C.) of .3-5%..

There are in general two positions of anticurl devices as used in the collars of mens shirts, one being in (or next to) the front edges of the collar and the other being a diagonal position as illustrated in the drawings described below. The different constructions of stays in accordance with the present invention will be described for each of these positions. For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a collar having the anticurl device of the present invention in the diagonal position mentioned above;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional 'view of one embodiment of the present invention taken on line II-il of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 2 but showing in section a stay of a construction different from that illustrated in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the anticurl device used in the embodiment of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an end view of the anticurl device of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a collar having an anticurl device in the edge position.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view similar to Fig. 6 of a collar having a different embodiment of an anticurl device according to the present invention located in the edge position and overcoming the drawbacks of the .arrangement shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along VII-I-VIII of Fig. 7;

Figs. 9-10 are respectively plan and side views of the anticurl device used in the embodiment of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the anti curl device similar to that of Figs. 7-l0 arranged diagonally in a collar.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows in a fragmentary plan view collar construction which is commonly used, this construction including a collartop portion 10 and a collarband portion 11, the two portions being sewn together by stitches along the collarbanding seam 12. The collartop usually has topstitching, as shown at 13. The anticurl device of the present invention is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 in a diagonal position at 14, and the anticurl device 14 extends from the collarpoint portion 10a of the collar to a region adjacent the collarband portion of the collar, and more specifically adjacent the collarbanding seam (approximately 4 inch away from the collarbanding seam, more or less). As is shown in Fig. 2 the stays may be held in position by means of a pocket 15, this pocket being sewn to the bottom ply 10b by means of a double row of stitches 16 before this bottom ply is sewn to the other plies of the collar (in Fig. 2 the individual plies are shown in section).

Fig. 3 shows a modification according to which the pocket 15 is eliminated and the anticurl strip is sewn directly to the bottom ply 10b by a single row of stitches 17. The anticurl device 14a of this embodiment differs from the anticurl device 14 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in that the anticurl device 14a is formed along one face thereof with a longitudinally extending groove 14b to receive the row of stitches 17. This feature is of importance because if the groove were not present the stitches 17 would show through on the surface of the collar after ironing and particularly if the collar is at all starched. This groove 14b is also illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, Fig. 5 being an end view of the anticurl device 14a shown in plan view in Fig. 4. The anticurl device of Figs. 4 and 5 may have a thickness of approximately 0.010 inch and may be about inch wide. The groove 14b may be approximately A inch wide and may have a depth of approximately 0.004 inch.

When the stay is fixed to the collar in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 2, there is no button hole or other entrance to the pocket 15 when the collar is completed, the only entrance to this pocket being at the edge of the collartop before the same is banded, that is, before the band part 11 is attached to the collartop 10. Therefore, the anticurl device 14 of Fig. 2 must be inserted before the banding operation and is not removable thereafter without ripping or cutting.

The embodiment of Fig. 3, that is the fixing of the stay to the collar, in accordance with the present invention, by stitching extending along a groove of the stay, presents the important advantage that it eliminates the cost of the pocket material and the subsequent insertion operation. With certain fabrics there is a possibility that the stay will show through on the surface of the finished material after laundering, but with many other types of fabrics, particularly some of those used in sport shirts, the showing-through of the embodiment of Figs. 3-5 is unobservable and moreover this embodiment of the invention is very economical.

Fig. 6 shows a collar where the anticurl device 24 is In the edge position, and furthermore the anticurl device stops short of the collarbanding seam by a distance D which may be /8 inch or thereabouts. This type of constructlon is not satisfactory for soft collars and is only moderately successful with fused collars. The reason for this is that the fiexure of the collar takes place along the l1ne E shown in Fig. 6 extending from the top of the anticurl device diagonally across the collar. A soft collar has no means for resisting this flexure and hence the 4 device does not operate properly in a soft collar. A fused collar has a substantial degree of stiffness which enables it to resist this flexure to some extent at least, depending upon the wearer. In general, the anticurl device shown in Fig. 6 has not proved to be very successful. It is essential that the anticurl device stop short as indicated by the distance D because if the anticurl device 24 extended beyond the point indicated in Fig. 6, it would press upon the tieknot, and this tieknot would force the points outward and therefore defeat the entire purpose of the anticurl device. However, in accordance with the present invention it is possible to overcome the drawbacks of the arrangement shown in Fig. 6 with the modifications shown in Figs. 7-10.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 of a collar wherein the anticurl device 25 extends from the collar point portion all the way up to the edge of the collar top indicated at 100, in Fig. 7. In order to eliminate undesirable effects resulting from pressure of the tieknot against the anticurl device 25 which now extends all the way, the thickness of the anticurl device is reduced at one elongated end portion through a distance indicated by F in Fig. 7. This is very clearly illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10 which are respectively a plan and side elevation of the modification of the anticurl device of the present inven tion which is used in the collar of Fig. 7. The reduction in thickness at the end portion of the stay adjacent the collarbanding seam is approximately 0.005 inch, that is, the major portion of the anticurl strip may have a thickness of 0.010 inch at the part 25a shown in Figs. 9 and 10, while the elongated end portion 25b will have a thickness of approximately 0.005 inch.

When Mylar is reduced from 0.010 inch to 0.005 inch in thickness its fiexural rigidity is so much reduced that it follows the bend of the collar without objectional resistance and will transmit very little of the pressure of the tie knot to the thicker portions of the stay which are in contact with the tie knot.

The practical success of the above described structure, particularly that of Figs. 1-5, have been demonstrated. by repeated wearing and washing tests and is due to a. very large extent to the thinness of the anticurl device of the present invention. The thinness of the anticurl device of the present invention results in a high degree of flexibility so that the curling caused by the wearer and particularly by changes in posture of the wearer do not cause an appreciable permanent set in the anticurl device unless the curling forces are applied over a long period of time, as, for example, when the collar is lying in a distorted shape in a box after packaging or laundering. If the stay of the present invention were thicker then the stresses due to the imposed curling it would become greater and not less and therefore the tendency to take a permanent set would be greater. Furthermore, the stresses due to laundering when the anticurl device may bend back upon itself and be subject to pressure as in a centrifuge are less the thinner the device is. The success, therefore, of the structure of the present invention is due to the combination of its thinness with the proper selection of material. The plastic Mylar has also proved to be excellent for use in connection with the anticurl devices described in U. S. Patent Nos. 2,601,035, 2,601,036, and Reissue No. 23,617. r

The combination of a similar thinness with nylon is not capable of producing the results produced by the use of Mylar. Success is obtained by the combination of the thinness with the particular material.

With the structure shown in Figs. 7-10, the insertion of the stay is greatly simplified. Furthermore, the tendency to flex along the line E of Fig. 6 is reduced and yet the reduced thickness of the stay allows the collar to bend over at the crotch without exercising a new pressure, and moreover if the collar is properly ironed so as to press on the folded collar with the iron in the neighborhood of the crotch, the anticurl strip will take this bend which bend will become permanent until the collar is laundered again.

Moreover, with the arrangement shown in Fig. 6, the stay isliable to shift undesirably unless it is anchored in a relatively complicated and expensive manner. However, with the structure of Figs. 7-10, the stay will not shift and it is held in place in a simple automatic manner without any additional cost.

It is also possible to use a stay as shown in Figs. 7-10 only arranged so as to extend diagonally from the collarpoint portion to the collarbanding seam, in a manner similar to that shown in Fig. 1. In other words, the stay which is shown in Figs. 9 and 10 would be arranged diagonally in the collar with the relatively thin end portion of the stay extending all the way up to the collarbanding seam. Such an arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 11 where the stay may be arranged in the same way as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 except that it is longer and has the construction shown in Figs. 9 and 10. In this way the anticurl device is locked in position and cannot shift, and furthermore there is no upper edge of the anticurl device inside the collar to give rise to any premature wear.

Methods of manufacturing the anticurl devices of the type shown in Figs. 9 and 10 are described in separate patent applications.

I claim:

1. A shift collar terminating in free wing portions, a stiffening element in the form of a flat strip having a thickness of approximately 0.01 of an inch positioned in each of said wing portions, said strip being made of Mylar which is a material composed by the condensation reaction between ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, substantially having the property of not shrinking or becoming reduced in size or distorted by laundering and subsequent ironing and substantially identified as melting at 250 C., with a density of 1.39, refractive index of 1.655, tensile strength of 17,000 to 25,000 pounds per square inch, humidity coefiicient of linear expansion of 11 10- moisture absorption less than 0.5, shrinkage at 150 C. of 1.5 to 2%, immediate bending recovery from 180 bend of 43%, tensile modulus 450,000 to 600,000, and flex life at 0 F., 20,000 cycles and forming a stay for said garment.

2. A shirt collar terminating in free wing portions, a stifiening element in the form of a flat strip having a maximum thickness not exceeding approximately 0.01

of an inch and a minimum thickness of not less than 0.005 of an inch positioned in each of said wing portions, said strip being made of Mylar which is a material composed by the condensation reaction between ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, substantially having the property of not shrinking or becoming reduced in size or distorted by laundering and subsequent ironing and substantially identified as melting at 250 C., with a density of 1.39, refractive index of 1.655, tensile strength of 17,000 to 25,000 pounds per square inch, humidity coefiicient of linear expansion of ll 10-', moisture absorption less than 0.5, shrinkage at C. of 1.5 to 2%, immediate bending recovery from bend of 43%, tensile modulus 450,000 to 600,000, and a flex life at 0 F., 20,000 cycles and forming a stay for said garment.

3. A shirt collar terminating in free wing portions, a stiffening element in the form of a fiat strip having along an end portion a thickness of less than 0.1 of an inch and along the remainder of said strip a thickness of approximately 0.01 of an inch and positioned in each of said wing portions, said strip being made of Mylar which is a material composed by the condensation reaction between ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, substantially having the property of not shrinking or becoming reduced in size or distorted by laundering and subsequent ironing and substantially identified as melting at 250 C., with a density of 1.39, refractive index of 1.655, tensile strength of 17,000 to 25,000 pounds per square inch, humidity coeflicient of linear expansion of 11 l0" moisture absorption less than 0.5, shrinkage at 150 C. of 1.5 to 2%, immediate bending recovery from 180 bend of 43%, tensile modulus 450,000 to 600,000, and flex life at 0 F., 20,000 cycles and forming a stay for said garment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,690,868 La Rose Nov. 6, 1928 1,710,371 McDonnell Apr. 23, 1929 1,813,304 Lind et a1. July 7, 1931 1,969,928 Haven Aug. 14, 1934 2,465,319 Whinfeld Mar. 22, 1949 2,701,880 Sucher Feb. 15, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 391,126 Great Britain Apr. 18, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No, 2,884,640 May 5,; 1959 Benjamin Liebowitz It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 5, line' 28, for "shift" read ,shirt column 6, line 19, for "0.1" read 0.61

Signed and sealed this 13th day of October 1959,

(SEAL) Attest:

' KARL H. AXLINE ROBERT C. WATSON Attesting Oflicer Commissioner of Patents 

1. A SHIFT COLLAR TERMINATING IN FREE WING PORTIONS, A STIFFENING ELEMENT IN THE FORM OF A FLAT STRIP HAVING A THICKNESS OF APPROXIMATELY 0.01 OF AN INCH POSITIONED IN EACH OF SAID WING PORTIONS, SAID STRIP BEING MADE OF MYLAR WHICH IS A MATERIAL COMPOSED BY THE CONDENSATION REACTION BETWEEN ETHYLENE GLYCOL AND TEREPHTHALIC ACID, SUBSTANTIALLY HAVING THE PROPERTY OF NOT SHRINKING OR BECOMING REDUCED IN SIZE OR DISTORTED BY LAUNDERING AND SUBSEQUENT IRONING AND SUBSTANTIALLY IDENTIFIED AS MELTING AT 250* C., WITH A DENSITY OF 1.39, REFRACTIVE INDEX OF 1.655, TENSILE STRENGTH OF 17,000 TO 25,000 POUNDS PER SQUARE INCH, HUMIDITY COEFFICIENT OF LINEAR EXPANSION OF 11X10-6, MOISTURE ABSORPTION LESS THAN 0.5, SHRINK AGE AT 150* C. OF 1.5 TO 2%, IMMEDIATE BENDING RECOVERY FROM 180* BEND OF 43%, TENSILE MODULUS 450,000 TO 600,000, AND FLEX LIFE AT 0* F., 20,000 CYCLES AND FORMING A STAY FOR SAID GARMENT. 